Nha Trang, Vietnam, 1965:
“What kind of goddamn war are we fighting over here?” Major Charlie Beckwith asked as he drove down the streets of Nha Trang. He had just been assigned as the commander of Project Delta. His soldiers had been living in the town all weekend, hanging out at the beach, in the bars, and “getting their ashes hauled by the Vietnamese gals” (Beckwith, 54). Outraged, Beckwith grabbed one of the Project Delta sergeants and told him to gather up the men in a formation behind their compound.
“He read them the riot act…he further told them that they were there to kill the enemy, not to make money, and anyone who could not embrace his philosophy had better leave” (Carpenter, 81). Out of the 30 men assigned to Project Delta, all but seven walked out. He was nicknamed Chargin’ Charlie for a reason, and “the consensus is that you either loved the guy or you hated him. A lot of that had to do with his aggressive nature in attacking situations, a style that some considered reckless and self serving” (Carpenter, 81).
To recruit more men to replace the ones he just lost, Beckwith created a flyer that read, “Wanted: volunteers for ‘Project Delta’, will guarantee you a medal, a body bag, or both” (Beckwith, 55). Major Beckwith wasn’t kidding, either. Recruits came streaming in.
Beckwith would command the unit into 1966 when it was asked to perform recon missions in the Lao Valley, known to be a Viet Cong stronghold, in what was called Operation Masher. “This operation proved to be one of the darkest in Project Delta’s history” (Carpenter, 96). Seven Special Forces men were killed during the operation. Major Beckwith decided to fly into the valley in a helicopter, believing that if he was on the ground, it would incentivize the 1st Cavalry Division to provide the support that Project Delta had not been getting. Forced to fly low because of cloud cover, the helicopter made an easy target. “Almost at once, a .51-caliber machine gun bullet comes through the helicopter. It goes in one side of my abdomen and comes out the other” (Beckwith, 80).
Major Beckwith was then evacuated and spent a long time in recovery. Because of the casualties taken during Project Delta operations led by Beckwith, many of the Special Forces soldiers held a grudge against him—one that they carried with them into Blue Light in 1977. “Some of the rumors out at Mott Lake were true, some were not, but I cannot confirm anything from personal knowledge,” said Jim, a Green Beret who had served in Project Delta later during the Vietnam War. After the war, he went on to become an officer in Delta Force.
When addressing the widely held beliefs that many in the Special Forces community had about Beckwith, he said, “Some guys said they shouldn’t have gone on the Lao Valley mission because the weather was bad, but sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do.” He added, “There are some guys who served in Special Forces and Project Delta who blamed Beckwith for the tragic lose of some recon personnel during an operation into Lao Valley. His personality and aggressive nature created enemies as well.”
Fort Bragg, August, 1978:
Colonel Beckwith stood up and began giving the men of Blue Light his recruitment speech. Beckwith “gave us the opportunity to join Delta. Most of us would have joined,” Jakovenko said. Everything seemed to be going OK, until he told the group of Special Forces Vietnam veterans that they would have to go to Delta’s section and assessment course if they wanted to become members of the unit. This caused a stir among the men. Who was Beckwith to reassess a group of men who had fought and bled on Special Forces missions in Vietnam?
One of the Blue Light sergeants asked Beckwith as much. To paraphrase his reply, Beckwith answered, “We gotta know that you’re not gonna fold when you gotta kill someone.” Suffice to say, this was the wrong thing to say to a group of battle-hardened Green Berets. The attitude of many Blue Light sergeants was one of “why do you need to assess me when you know where I’ve been and what I’ve done?” Furthermore, there were Blue Light members who had served with Beckwith in Project Delta, and would not try out for Delta Force as long as Beckwith was with the unit.
Another Blue Light sergeant, who happened to be a MACV-SOG veteran, stood up and asked Beckwith, “You call this unit 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, so is this a Special Forces outfit like the one you destroyed in Vietnam?” The briefing did not go as well as he would have liked. Beckwith then took them down the hall at the stockade to show them a few things, and then Blue Light departed. No one in the brief volunteered for Delta selection.
Several books have been published stating that Blue Light was never invited to try out for Delta Force and none of them ever served in Delta. Both claims are false. As you can see here, Beckwith did invite all Blue Light members to selection, even if he did not show much tact in how he went about it. Down the line, at least four Blue Light members went on to serve in Delta Force.
Blue Light was deactivated that same month, in August of 1978.
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